Price of a house; reductions?

[Sploosh]

Would like to know if the prices in Adelaide on realestate.com.au (for example) are ambit prices by the sellers, or if they pretty much stick to those prices. Obviously Every Situation Is Different, but generally...

Anyone bought a house recently? Did you manage to get an amount knocked down off the advertised, or intial price?

Anyone sold a house recently? Did you find that you had to reduce what you were asking for to get a sale?

[MW]

In the current market, if you are selling, you get more than you ask for i.e. around 10% above asking price

[Sploosh]

Really? Is that because there are more sellers than buyers at the moment? If true, it's bad news for me... I was under the impression that not so many people could afford big mortgages because of last year's 3 interest rate rises etc. Hmmm...

[MW]

think again....

[Sojourner]

I got my house for several thousand less than the asking price just over six months ago. I had made an offer previously on another house and the agent actually refused to take it to the vendor unless I raised the offer $5000, I naturally told her no. A week later she phoned back and tried to get me to go and look at a house they had advertised in Hope Valley, they were told bluntly that I would not buy any house being sold through their company as I found them unproffessional. Then two weeks later she rings me again to tell me that if I resubmitted my offer on the first house at the original offer that the owner would likely take it, I then had the pleasure of telling them that contracts had been exchanged the day before on my house which I am in now at the price I thought was fair.

There is a way to buy a home at under the market value, you go down to Borders or Dymocks and buy a copy of a book called "The Insider's Guide to Real Estate" Patrick A Bright, a guy who is a buyers agent in Sydney who reveals the best ways to buy at under market value in a tough climate. I literally saved $7000 off the asking price of my house by going with the advice that he suggests.

Having said that, I will be selling this house once the renovations are finished, and will be doing so with a Jenman agent (The Jenman System - Dont Sign Anything) http://www.jenman.com.au

His Books on how sellers of Real Estate get ripped off by agents are really an eye opener into an industry that is not as regulated as it might seem!

[Dutchy]

would that be because more people are buying due to the excessive rents being asked for???

hope your right MW as we will be selling in next 3-4 months

[Sojourner]

(Interesting to note that my house was originally advertised in a "Price Range" as well, Agents that do that can literally be gold for an astute buyer)!

LOWER COMPETENCE LOWER PRICE  
It's not hard for buyers to find incompetent agents.

How is it ethical for an agent to make buyers pay their highest affordable price for a home when other buyers may offer a lot less?

For example, if Buyer A can pay $750,000, and Buyer B can only pay $725,000, why should Buyer A pay an extra $25,000?

Isn't this unethical to the homebuyers?!
 
RESPONSE


The scenario you describe rarely happens. Not because it shouldn't happen but because most agents do not know how to get the best price for the sellers.

Agents have both a legal and a moral duty to get the best price for the sellers.

Most agents, however, are clueless when it comes to negotiating. Instead of offering their best price, most buyers only have to offer a little more than they see other buyers offering.

If you are a buyer and you want to buy for the lowest price, you need to find the agents with the lowest level of negotiating competence. Fortunately, you're in luck, incompetent agents are everywhere. They are the ones doing auctions or using 'price ranges' or revealing personal information in advertisements (eg seller is ill and forced to sell).

Aside from buying through incompetent agents (who are acting for the sellers), the other way for buyers to buy at a lower price is to hire a competent buyers' agent.

It is certainly NOT unethical for agents to get the best price for their clients, the sellers. Most buyers forget that most agents are supposed to be working for the sellers not the buyers.

http://www.jenman.com.au/NewsQuestions1.php?id=231

[am Bays]

would that be because more people are buying due to the excessive rents being asked for???

hope your right MW as we will be selling in next 3-4 months

I hope you're wrong having just had an interview for a job back in Adelaide I want the market to remain flat and prices to advertised at over the actual market buying price.......

[Sploosh]

I hope you're wrong having just had an interview for a job back in Adelaide I want the market to remain flat and prices to advertised at over the actual market buying price.......

Plus One!!!!

[Dutchy]

nice 3 bedroom house at Flagstaff Hill 4 sale shortly!!!

[Dissident]

For example, if Buyer A can pay $750,000, and Buyer B can only pay $725,000, why should Buyer A pay an extra $25,000?

Isn't this unethical to the homebuyers?!

Unethical? Hell no.

People put in low, and ridiculously low offers all the time. This should not affect the bid of another!
It's not an auction.

[dont think do]

A few years ago I went and looked at a house and was told the price range was, high $100,000's (this was in 2001), went and had a second look and then got finance arranged and tried to offer $190,000 only to be told they were no longer accepting offers and it was going to auction.

We went along with money in had, only for it to be passed in with out a bid and to find out it had a reserve of $260,000.

Would you believe this all happened in 2 weeks???

Bloody agents ( am glad you guys reminded me of what its like as now the hassle of building a home doesnt seem so bad.

[Zorro]

We recently bought a house, used realestate.com.au extensively to research properties before inspecting them. We would've looked through 30-40 houses physically and this was by far the most frustrating house buying experience we've had.

Some of the reasons why:
- Many of them are now advertised in a price range, so naturally you offer something at the low end of the range. Then you're told they're looking for much more. WTF?? Don't have a range then.
- We secured a place, agreed on a price and then the house was taken off the market.
- Most agents aren't willing to lock a single buyer into negotiation back and forth with the seller. They'll do this with multiple buyers at the same time and ask you to make your best offer straight off the bat. Effectively like a silent auction.
- We looked at one place advertised at 350k, to then be told after looking through the place that they wanted a minimum of 360k. Get your ******* advertising right!!

I found the experience far more stressful than the last two times we purchased houses. We also paid more than the asking price to get the place we wanted. We weren't the only buyers to offer more, but luckily we were slightly higher.

But it's all worth it now, we move in a couple of months so after 5 yrs in the country I'll be much closer to Grand North and Prospect oval!!

[FlyingHigh]

How can it be unethical for homebuyers to offer lower amounts? Every other industry is struggles by getting beaten down by potential clients on price (and I work in one), except for this greedy industry. Classic example is how much interest there is in the price of petrol changing by a few cents.

Surely it is unethical/illelgal/immoral for a house to be advertised at a certain amount and then find out you need to pay more. Bet Woolies or Myers couldn't get away with it.

[dont think do]

When we where looking before an idea I had is that Agents/sellers should have to record the minium price they are after with a independant board. This way they would not be able to advertise any lower than the minium they are asking.

They do it for 2 reasons,
1) trying to get you in and fall in love with a house you can not afford but you borrow more anyway.
2) once they have your details etc they try to seel you another house that they have which is cheaper and say they are helping you.

I dont have an issue if they say they want $300,000 for a place and market ends up paying $350,000, but when they say they want $300,000 they should be locked into accepting the highest offer over that.

[devilsadvocate]

I put an offer in on a place in Oct.

It was advertised at mid 300's. It had plenty of potential, but basically it was a dive as it hadn't been mantained EVER.

I put in an offer of $280k and the agent refused to present it to the vendor. I stuck to my guns and refused to up my offer (I didn't care if I got the place or not). Eventually the offer was presented and refused by the vendor.

The place ended up selling for $305k about 8 weeks after my offer and about 5 months after listing. Hardly mid 300's as advertised by the agent.

The whole process taght me 2 things:

1. Real Estate Agents are blood sucking scum never to be listened to.
2. Play the game on your own terms and ignore price ranges. Make your own mind up about the house's value and stick to that. Sometimes someone will pay a crazy high price because they don't know better or get sucked in by a dodgy agent. Keep looking as there are good deals to be found.

[Sploosh]

The whole process taght me 2 things:

1. Real Estate Agents are blood sucking scum never to be listened to.
2. Play the game on your own terms and ignore price ranges. Make your own mind up about the house's value and stick to that. Sometimes someone will pay a crazy high price because they don't know better or get sucked in by a dodgy agent. Keep looking as there are good deals to be found.

I reckon that is pretty good advice, right there. Not looking forward to starting the process in a few months, but appreciate the anecdotes of everyone who has contributed so far.

[Punk Rooster]

I put an offer in on a place in Oct.

It was advertised at mid 300's. It had plenty of potential, but basically it was a dive as it hadn't been mantained EVER.

I put in an offer of $280k and the agent refused to present it to the vendor. I stuck to my guns and refused to up my offer (I didn't care if I got the place or not). Eventually the offer was presented and refused by the vendor.

An agent cannot refuse to submit a written offer. They must also advise you whether that offer was successfull or not.

1. Real Estate Agents are blood sucking scum never to be listened to.

A bit harsh, can't tar them all with the same brush.
Also, they are working for the Vendor- the Vendor's are paying them good money to get the best price for their home.

2. Play the game on your own terms and ignore price ranges. Make your own mind up about the house's value and stick to that. Sometimes someone will pay a crazy high price because they don't know better or get sucked in by a dodgy agent. Keep looking as there are good deals to be found.

100% spot on

[devilsadvocate]

1. Real Estate Agents are blood sucking scum never to be listened to.

A bit harsh, can't tar them all with the same brush.
Also, they are working for the Vendor- the Vendor's are paying them good money to get the best price for their home.

You're right, it's very harsh, but I'm yet to meet one I could trust. Your second point is the problem. Because they are working for the vendor, they are happy to screw buyers every which way to get the highest possible price.

[Sploosh]

I reckon sometimes the RE agents don't mind if they can't wring every drop of blood from the victim, um, I mean buyer. There must be some lazy agents who would rather just sell the place and move on; after all, they get their money no matter what price the house sells for, so I'm sure they'd wanna do the least amount of work possible that keeps the vendor reasonably satisfied.